Fei’s laugh echoed behind her—bright, warm, and brutally alive.
Ahead, Joshua was still barking at the empty air. “It was an invisible bridge!”
“It was still a bridge!” someone shouted back.
“That’s not the point!”
“It is literally the point!”
Then the floor buckled.
Instinct overrode thought. Mei lunged, snatching Fei’s arm and dragging her backward a millisecond before crimson energy tore through the corridor, obliterating the flagstones where Fei had stood.
Fei stared at the smoking crater, chest heaving. “Thanks.”
Mei released her instantly. “Watch your surroundings.”
She marched forward, her pulse hammering—not from the near-miss, but from the terrifying ease with which she’d moved to protect her.
In her first life, Mei had been built to survive, not trust. She knew poison before pleasure, how to cut before how to hold, and exactly how many seconds a sleeping target needed to reach a weapon. Then came Shadow Squad. Joshua was insufferable, the rest were loud, and Fei was the worst of all: she stayed. After brutal raids, through suffocating silences, and when Mei vanished for days without explanation. Eventually, Fei became safe. Trusted.
That was why the blade hit so deep. Mei had unlocked the door herself.
“Mei.” Fei’s voice cut through the noise. “You’re bleeding.”
A shallow slice parted Mei’s sleeve. Fei reached out—and Mei caught her wrist with blinding speed.
Fei froze. Mei let go, her jaw tight. “Don’t.”
“Right,” Fei murmured, stepping back.
Ahead, space cracked like ice. Dimensional fractures bled darkness into the hall, something shrieking within the rift.
“Move!” Shane roared, drawing his weapon.
The squad surged, but Mei’s mind was already dragging her back to the end of her first life.
It had started with the same fractures. Dungeon Gates mutating, Sovereigns manifesting, entire cities vanishing off the map. The dungeons weren't ruins; they were prisons. And at their core sat the Void Heart.
The Architect records offered one solution: The Eternal Seal. A living soul as its anchor. Mei was compatible. She kept silent, but Fei found the data.
“We’ll find another way,” Mei had promised.
Fei had nodded. “Of course.”
Mei believed her. That was the fatal mistake.
When humanity faced total extinction at the Final Dungeon, Fei made her move. She altered routes, withheld intel, fractured the squad, and steered Mei straight into the Seal's chamber.
When the stone doors sealed behind them, only the two of them remained.
Runes flared. Mei’s hand dropped to her blade. Five meters away, Fei stood weeping.
“Open it,” Mei commanded.
“I’m sorry,” Fei sobbed.
“You’ve been lying to me. How long?”
“Since I found the record. I didn't know what else to do!”
“Open the door!”
“I can’t! I don't want you to die!”
Mei stopped cold. “Then why am I here?”
Fei dropped to her knees, breaking down. “I was trying to save everyone! I... I chose you.”
Mei closed the distance in a breath, pressing her blade beneath Fei’s jaw. “You were supposed to be the one person who wouldn't.”
Then the chamber split. Through the rift, Earth was burning. Cities collapsing, millions dying.
Mei stared at the carnage, then lowered her steel. “You counted on me. You knew I’d choose them.”
The Seal activated. Silver light struck Mei’s chest, ripping her into the air. Her heart became the lock, forged into a living pulse against the Void Heart’s rage. Pain shattered her ribs, but she held the stance. If she broke, humanity died.
Her body turned to glass. Her fingers vanished into light, then her arms.
Fei screamed her name. Mei looked down at the girl who had stayed—and the traitor who had condemned her. They were the exact same person.
Mei turned away, drove both hands into the central rune, and let the light consume her. She didn't curse Fei. She didn't forgive her. She just let the Seal erase the rest.
“Mei!”
Reality snapped back with a violent crack.
The corridor was collapsing. The floor beneath them sheared off, and Fei slipped, falling toward the abyss.
Mei lunged and caught her wrist.
For a terrifying second, the memories bled together—the Void Heart, the blinding light, her body turning to dust.
Mei pulled.
Fei slammed onto the solid ledge, gasping for air. They locked eyes, inches apart.
“Don’t let go,” Fei whispered.
Mei’s knuckles turned white. “I won’t.”
The words shocked them both.
“Keep moving!” Shane yelled from up ahead.
They sprinted into the dark. Mei didn't look back. She still remembered how Fei had killed her. She still remembered why.
But this wasn't that chamber. This wasn't that ending.
And this time, Mei was the one holding the knife.